500 Fights Knockaround Guys
by rachel121
Summary: Why does every knucklehead have to prove himself a (not-so) tough guy by coming up against Taylor Reese?


Title: 500 Fights, (1/1) R  
  
Rating : R for language Category: General  
  
Summary: Taylor is a Knockaround Guy, and he will show you if he needs to  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Taylor, Mattie, Marbles, Scarpa, or Benny Chains. I just like to play with them  
  
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There was nothing Taylor Reese hated more than...some peckerwood who felt the need to prove himself, and thought that coming up against Taylor was just the way to do it.  
  
Taylor had always been a fighter. The second day of kindergarten he'd been hauled down to the principal's office for making Derek O'Donnell eat a knuckle sandwich. Derek had been flipping up the girl's skirts and Taylor objected. Derek had a bloody nose and a fat lip, and Taylor got detention. Derek never flipped up another skirt where Taylor could see him, and Taylor got a reputation.  
  
As Taylor grew, his father taught him how to box, and more importantly, self-control of his brute strength. Now Taylor could gauge the lickin' he was about to deliver, giving just enough to put the other guy in his place, without maiming or killing the poor bastard. That is, unless he deserved it.  
  
Taylor had a theory. Five hundred street fights and you can consider yourself a tough guy.  
  
In high school he had been again hauled down to the principals office who informed him that this last fight was number 367. Most of them were off grounds, which meant the school had no jurisdiction, but because so many of the other boys involved came from within their district, there was bad blood between the schools. Taylor had 3 months left before graduation, and if there were anymore fights he would be permanently removed from his school, and would not be allowed to graduate from any school in the PS 32 district.  
  
Taylor's first reaction was to walk out, but he knew it would break his mother's heart if he didn't graduate. It was pretty much the only thing she'd ever asked of him. So he sucked it up, and rallied the troops. The principal didn't say that no one could fight, just not him. So Mattie and Marbles spent three months taking it on the chin for him, which wasn't bad considering he had been fighting their battles for years.  
  
The guys had heard about the moratorium on Taylor, and really tried to lay it to him. Some of them got nasty, with Marbles especially. The week after Taylor's graduation, he methodically visited over 100 guys, laying a severe beating on each of them in retribution.  
  
When Mattie's father heard about the 'week of redemption', he met with Taylor's father and offered Taylor a job. At first his father refused to involve Taylor in the 'family' business, knowing that he would never rise to the top, never be a 'boss', and in their business, that was the only thing that made it worth while.  
  
When Taylor heard about the offer, he went against his father for the first time ever, and became a family member. He started out with collections, and every so often would tag along with a couple of guys they called 'enforcers'.  
  
His first experience the strong arm of the mob involved a racketeer named Billy Badass. Billy was skimming more than his share. He had been 'warned' twice, and the broken kneecaps that came with the second warning were not a deterrent to his reckless behaviour. Some people never learn.  
  
It took all of Taylor's self-control to hold down the vomit purging through his system, as he watched them execute Billy. The gun, fitted with silencer, made a sound like a pea-shooter, and blood and gray matter covered the wall behind Billy. When Taylor helped to move him into position, he discovered that a large portion of Billy's face was just gone, leaving a gaping hole where his nose and eyes should have been.  
  
Taylor moved out of his parent's house the day after the shooting. He didn't ever want to come home to them again after being a part of that. He accepted that it was part of his life, and he respected that his father had walked away from it. From the look on his father's face when he came down the next morning, he knew that he could never lie to him about his activities, that his father would inherently know.  
  
In the years following Taylor's initiation into the Family, he had moved up in the ranks, but remained best friends with Mattie Demerit, son of Bennie Chains, mob boss. Mattie was removed from the equation of the Family Tree. Not invited to join the family business, he did his best to fit into some other world, but his name was never far behind him, and always caught up.  
  
Taylor rarely dated, felt awkward trying to associate with the fairer sex, and wasn't sure he could walk away from the mob with as much conviction as his father, but knew he would never bring a woman into the gritty truth that was his life. So he spent a lot of time hanging with his friends and being alone.  
  
Being with Marbles, Mattie and Scarpa made him forget about his duties to Benny Chains, but if they were out in public, and people were drinking, all too often some wiseass would want to prove something.  
  
The reasons were varied; sometimes the girlfriend would be checking Taylor out, sometimes the assholes friends would egg him on. No matter what the story, the ending was always the same. Taylor and the shit-head, out back of whatever establishment they happen to be at, Taylor opening up a can of whoop-ass.  
  
Sometimes it was just ridiculous. Skinny-assed shit-heads, with way more balls than brains, thinking they could take him on, thinking they should try. One night Taylor was sitting with Mattie, talking about Mattie's latest job interview, and this idiot at the next table was giving the waitress a really hard time. Taylor had seen her here before, and knew she busted her ass every shift. This shit-for-brains is trying to order a martini in a beer and shooter bar on the wrong side of town, then complains, quite obnoxiously about the type of vermouth they use. After the third drink is rejected, the runt gets downright rude with the girl and brings her to tears. Taylor casually leans across the aisle and suggests that a pint of draft may be more to his liking.  
  
"Fuck you asshole! Look, it's the Friendly Fuckin' Giant!" He turns and says to his buddies, then looks back to Taylor. "I am the fucking customer here! If I want it, she will damn well bring it on a Silver Fucking Platter. If I want her pussy roasted over a fire, she will fucking bring it to me." This brought a round of laughter from his table, but most of the people nearby watched to see what Taylor Reese would do next.  
  
Taylor could see the thirty pairs of eyes suddenly trained on him and contemplated the best way to get this asshole quietly out of the bar. He leaned over to the table again, his voice low and steady, keeping the conversation private. "Perhaps you should try a club in Manhattan. They will probably have whatever you are looking for." With that, Taylor turned back around and continued his conversation with Mattie. He could see the shit-head in the mirror above the bar, and kept one eye on him.  
  
Most people would automatically obey Taylor's mere wish, his voice was enough to intimidate the bravest. This guy obviously wasn't most people. Their group broke into laughter again and Taylor watched as the guy stood up and sent the table full of glasses and ashtrays, crashing to the floor.  
  
"Hey! Friendly Fuckin' Giant! You want a piece of me?" Taylor kept his back to the man, pretending to ignore him, all the while watching in the mirror with one eye, and Mattie's reaction with the other.  
  
The man, about 5'10 and maybe 150 lbs soaking wet, jumped across the mess of glass and booze on the floor, intending to land on Taylor's back. Taylor, well over 6'2 and 200 lbs of steel, watched all of this. With speed that should never exist in a man his size, he moved out of the way, letting the guy skid across the table, pushing their drinks to the floor. Taylor grabbed the guy's right arm and flipped him onto his back, reached up and held the guy's neck with one hand.  
  
"Do I look like I suffer from malnutrition?" Taylor spoke low, his voice razor sharp. The bar became silent and as low as he spoke, most everyone heard his question.  
  
"Yeah Taylor, you better go eat or something, think you missed a few fuckin' meals!" Marbles could always be counted on to lighten up a situation. Taylor looked over to see the bar owner give him the nod. With that, he picked the guy up by his scrawny little neck, and walked through the crowded bar to the back door. He could hear Mattie, Marbles and Scarpa following, along with shit-head's friends. Once outside he dropped the guy, letting him fall to the ground. He scrambled to get up, and as much as Taylor wished this would be the end, he could see the fury in the guy's face. Taylor had made him lose face in a bar with over 500 people watching. The end was nowhere near.  
  
"Fuck you!" Taylor had to give the guy credit, he was a determined little son-of-a-bitch. The guy came hurtling toward Taylor, head down, ready to drive into Taylor's gut. Taylor pushed his hand out to connect with the guys head, just enough to deflect it away from the target, his stomach. The guy crashed into the wall behind Taylor, Marbles jumping out of the way just in time.  
  
And still he came. A little more slowly now, he stood up, and got his balance, then tried to sidekick Taylor. He caught his leg and jerked it back, causing the guy to perform an indelicate version of the splits. Taylor was starting to feel a little sorry for the guy as he grabbed his nuts and let out an agonizing scream. He lay on the ground for a moment, then the anger rushed back through him, and he stormed Taylor again.  
  
This time, Taylor got him with a right jab, then a powerful left hook. The guy fell hard on his back, and this time did not attempt to get up. Taylor turned to the guy's friends and told them to never come back.  
  
The guys all knew how Taylor felt about shit like this, and respected his feelings. There was nothing Taylor Reese hated more than...some peckerwood who felt the need to prove himself, and thought that coming up against Taylor was just the way to do it. 


End file.
